Week 3 of #100HomeEdDays

Last weekend, they got to spend some time with two of their cousins. It's been AGES since they came round to our house to hang out. It was lovely to have them here :)
Since then, we've been very busy and I'm not really sure if these photos reflect our week. So much is missing - like the local HE games group last Wednesday as well as the HE parkour class and martial arts sessions on Thursday. Actually, to be entirely honest, I think there are a few days missing completely....Must do better next week ;)

The Boy is getting to grips with division and multiplication with MEP preparing the way for long division. To help him remember which number is doing the dividing and which number is to be divided we have come up with  a little story.
One day, there were lots of people waiting in the bus shelter for the bus (the dividend/number to be divided). Lots of buses came along at the same time (the divisor/number to be divided by). How many people get on each bus? How many people got left in the rain because they were too busy talking and missed the bus (remainder). It works for him :)
They had 'skiving' day (if there is such a thing when you're home educated) and spent most of the day reading in their den on the trampoline :)
We've also been posting postcards for the postcard swap on the Picture Book Explorers Facebook group. There will be more going out this week :)
We were all away this weekend. The Boy went to Scarborough with my mum and had a thoroughly fabulous time. She made little videos of him on the Sky Trail. I'm so glad I wasn't there to see it as I'm terrified of heights :/ Modern technology is great for being able to see what he got up to and how much he enjoyed himself whilst he was away. He has come home with a pocket full of magic tricks and jokes :)
Me and The Girl went to Walsingham in Norfolk where we had a thoroughly fabulous time too. It's not often that we get to spend so much time together, just the two of us. It's been a reminder of how fast she is growing up and how little time I have left with her before she is off out into the big wide world by herself. She also got to go in the sea :)
Today has been a bit of a mishmash really as we all unpacked and resettled after our weekends away. There has been lots of trampolining; some making of seals from Sculpey to go with the sealing wax that we bought from The Martlet, a gorgeous printer's and bookbinder's shop in Walsingham; some play-doh making with the neighbours; some minecrafting; gardening; cubs and drama; some letter writing with the quill pens* to test out the seals; oh, and some science in the form of investigating hair and leaves under the microscope :)

*We made the quillpens when we were exploring Tabby McTat. Full instructions are included in the unit study: Picture Book Explorers - Tabby McTat :)

Weekly Round up for the Link up

And here they are. This week's photos for #100HomeEdDays.
Last weekend, I wrote how much I like doing this project. I still do. I love the little glimpses these photographed moments give into our lives and I know that in the years to come I will be delighted that I took these pictures.
That's all they are though, glimpses. Each photo has a back story and each focuses only on a single event in each day.  So, this may be a bit of a longer post as I try to fill in some gaps.
The bedtime stories include books that have been ongoing for a while (Our Island Story ); a book of their choice to follow up from our last book group book (Four Children and It ); and this month's actual book group book (The Phoenix and the Carpet ) which is on the Kindle. It's the first book I've read on the Kindle, and while I appreciate being able to change the size of the text as my eyes are no longer what they were, I don't appreciate not being able to judge how long it's going to take to read a chapter. I'm definitely still a lover of actual, physical hold-them-in-your-hands-and-smell-them books.
The colourful streamers are from the local Whit walk which was re-instigated about 4 years ago. We had lovely weather, a full brass band and were given free cups of tea in the park afterwards. It's a small affair and nowhere near as big an event as the Whit walks that take place every year in Saddleworth, which really is an event worth visiting whether you are religious or not.
The local cubs were taken litter-picking around the village as part of a community week project. This is Boykin's anti-litter poster that he requested was included in the #100HomeEdDays pictures :)
On Tuesday, The Girl made some cards. She is hoping to sell her designs at an upcoming Home Ed camp craft market. Any leftovers will be put up for sale in my Folksy shop :)
Wednesday was our local HE group themed session. This group has been running for a good few years now and we try and let the children have some say in what themes we cover. This month the theme was Chocolate & Sweets. As you can imagine, it was pretty popular ;) They learnt about the Mayan hot chocolate drink and made some. They got to have a go with a chocolate fondue, make chocolate truffles and coconut ice, learn some global chocolate facts and taste-test chocolate to make a graph. I am using the HOAC Chocolate Lapbook as my main resource with my children as we are continuing this project at home. There also this free Chocolate Unit  at HSS.
Thursday's photo looks like the laundry pile :/ It's actually a picture of all Boykin's changes of clothes for that day. Martial arts, dancing and drama all need different sets of clothes. In between his activities, The Girl also has martial arts, singing lessons and choir. Thursday is now the new Monday in terms of juggling.
Which brings me to Friday. They spent most of the day with their dad, but still managed to fit in some impromptu learning by investigating leaves through a 30x Pocket Microscope. Again, Boykin requested that this photo was included :)

#100HomeEd Days - week one

Well, this feels like a bit of a lazy post to be honest because I'm killing two birds with one stone.
I've joined in with the #100HomeEd Days which was started by @creativelypaleo. I even signed up to Instagram so that I could participate.
I like it. It's such a good idea and is just the prompting I need to make sure I take a photo every day. I can't promise to accompany each photo with a blogpost every day though.....
I'm also taking part in the Home Ed Linky over at Adventures in Homeschooling. So this post showing a week in our lives, comes by way of introduction to us - a busy and thriving Home Educating family from Yorkshire.

 Day 1 was fossil hunting in Filey

 Day 2 was seaweed pressing at our local HE monthly craft group.

Day 3 was The Girl's very first cornet competition.

Day 4 was The Girl's continuing adventures in vegetarian cooking

Day 5

This deserves a proper mention. It was my mum's birthday so we took her to Chatsworth House for the day, enjoying the advantage that home educating gives us of being able to celebrate on the actual day. The jaunt into Derbyshire also tied in very nicely with our Picture Book Explorers - I Took the Moon for a Walk study that we did last month. Boykin was eagerly looking for different types of hills on the journey, a very reassuring affirmation that he is enjoying learning with the PBEs.
Chatsworth House is lovely and should really have a post all of it's own. They both made the most of the audio tours in the house, ran happily around the maze and had a great time in the playground. And apart from lunch, that's pretty much all we managed to fit in. But we will be going back again :)

Day 6

This was the start of our chocolate project which we are doing in connection with our local HE monthly themed group. Boykin chose a chocolate picture making kit when I packed them off with my mum for the day. (Did I tell you how great my mum is?) There was supposed to be enough for only one picture, however, they managed to get two pictures out of the white and darjk chocolate and The Girl popped to the shop for some Cadbury's to finish hers off with. They turned out well and lasted, ooh, all of 3.6 seconds... or there abouts ;)

Day 7

Worthy of another proper mention. This was the end of this month's Picture Book Explorers - The Lighthouse Keeper's Rescue. They made these themselves, to their own designs, for inclusion in the study guide. They look great when they are lit up in a dark room. This was the end of a full week of learning both at home and out of the home and proves that the title of this blog is true. It really is never the same 2 days running :)

Snippets on Sunday

Joining in the Linky at Making It Up

{reading} the next Picture Book Explorers book, The Phoenix and the Carpet and Four Children and It

{watching} kids having a water fight with the neighbours' children :)

{feeling} blessed by our lovely allotment neighbour who didn't bat an eyelid when one of rabbits escaped and ate his cabbage seedlings yesterday. He came round today and made our rabbit run escape proof. What a very nice man :)

{listening} for the kettle to boil. I've ditched my manky electric one in favour of a rather splendid purple whistling one that was a birthday present last year :)

{memories}

{snapshot} The Girl entered her very first cornet competition today. She didn't get placed but it was a good experience and a chance to hear other players from different bands. She wants to enter as a duet with her friend next year. Boykin isn't feeling too well, but not so ill that he can't join in the water fight in his pyjamas or play minecraft.